SANDF troops

National Defence Force’s role is multi-faceted and not fully understood by the public

NOBODY can ever forget the service of the SANDF men and women who were sent to our neighbouring country after the storms of 2000 or the heroism of the aircrews plucking desperate Mozambicans by air as our helicopters hovered above the torrents.

Last weekend, our commander-in-chief, President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered us to deploy to Mozambique again after the ravages of Tropical Cyclone Idai.

Thousands are stranded, hundreds of thousands have been displaced. The death toll is sky-rocketing, scores have perished already.

We have deployed front elements made up of the South African Air force (SAAF), engineers from the South African army, as well as operational medics, nurses and doctors from the South African Military Health Service (SAMHS) to help wherever and however we can in this looming humanitarian disaster.

Last weekend, we also sent 10 members of the SAMHS as well as SAAF search and rescue air elements, to Malawi to help there where almost a million people have been affected and scores killed too.

This is a defence force with manifold responsibilities to its own people and to the continent it is part and parcel of. The mandate of the South African National Defence Force is to safeguard the territorial integrity of the Republic, first and foremost, but that is not the only the job it does.

As a key member of the African Union and the United Nations – where we serve as a non-permanent member of the Security Council – we are honoured to be able to help where we can. We contribute to the UN Force Intervention Brigade in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It is the only UN peacekeeping brigade mandated to use force to keep the peace. One of our generals also commands.

We safeguard the borders of this country; land, sea and air, as part of the Operation Corona. This is not merely an issue of preventing incursions but actually protecting our natural resources, like elephants and rhinos from poachers especially in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, and doing our best to foil cross border car theft syndicates as well as disrupt the flow of contraband in and drugs out of our country.

Internally, we have been sent to help the police whenever we have been asked to bolster their various crime control operations. The SANDF also intervenes in times of disaster here at home, as we did most recently over the festive season at the request of civil authorities to bring our critical skills to bear to avoid a major humanitarian disaster literally flowing from the polluted waters of the Vaal to people living in both Gauteng and the Free State.

As I write, the situation in Mozambique is fast approaching catastrophic status. Once again, the people there will look to their South African brothers and sisters for a thin thread of hope as they endure the worst disaster in the last two decades.

Earlier this week, the governor of Beira declared his city 90% damaged by Tropical Cyclone Idai, the projected death toll was expected to reach 1 000 innocent souls, hundreds of thousands more are at risk – of death by flooding and starvation.

And it would be up to the SANDF to save them, which we will do our level best to do so – just as we did 19 years ago. Then our members garnered 245 medals and rescued more than 14500 people and airlifted thousands of tons of critical aid. Our servicemen and women earned the respect of the world for the work they did during those devastating floods.

We did it again in 2015. Now, we stand ready to commit our troops again, wherever and however they are needed. There is only one question. How do we pay for it? It’s a question no one asks: Not the Treasury, not the national assembly nor the national council of provinces.

Instead, there is this almost mythical belief that somehow the SANDF will rise to the challenge. The truth is that our pride, the dedication of our men and women in uniform will allow us to do no less. There will come a time though when there literally is nothing left in the tank.

We need the right funding to pay salaries, but not just that, we also need to actually have the equipment that allows us to complete our tasks – at least on a playing field that is level with the enemies we face.

It is not enough that we have the equipment we need to be able to train on it to achieve the levels of proficiency everyone – as do we – expects us to have. And then we need to be able to deploy to the danger zone.

At this stage, in truth, we cannot do everything we are asked to. The fact that we always do is attributable to the professionalism and dedication of our leadership group, young and old, who answer the call every time it is sounded.

How many more times must they do that – on a budget that is progressively cut by people who have little or no appreciation for the work that the SANDF does and even less empathy, only a cynical expectation that the mission will be accomplished?

The SANDF is a national asset that proves its worth in ways and means often unseen and unappreciated by a public it is sworn to serve.

It asks for no special dispensation, because the men and women who signed up to serve in its ranks, did so without expectation.

All that we ask is fairness. As they prepare to venture out once more in harm’s way to save those who can no longer save themselves, surely that is not too much to ask?

Dlamini is head of the Communications in the South African Department of Defence